Groovy: A Poet in Service of his Word & Collective Liberation

Tongo Eisen-Martin is a poet, educator, organizer, and movement worker. His work centers on issues of mass incarceration, extrajudicial killings of Black people and human rights. He has taught at detention centers across the country. His published collections include Someone’s Dead Already (2015), Heaven is All Goodbyes (2017), Blood on the Fog (2021). He also authored a curriculum “We Charge Genocide Again” that has been used for educational and organizing purposes. He participated in the Bay Area film project “Re-Entrification”. He is also the co-founder of the Black Freighter Press (with Alie Jones) with a mission of publishing revolutionary books. They are “committed to the exploration of liberation, using art to transform consciousness” and have created “a platform for Black and Brown writers to honor ancestry and propel radical imagination.” Find out more here and follow Tongo on IG. The beats for this season were produced by local artists ⁠⁠Monk HTS⁠⁠  and ⁠⁠Evaclear⁠⁠. For more updates, follow Zina's Buqalah on ⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠ and ⁠⁠Facebook⁠⁠. And if you like what you hear, make a recommendation and please tell a friend or two. Shukraaan!